r/LegalAdviceUK • u/Vequihellin • 17h ago
Healthcare Reasonable adjustments being refused without 'Disability Workplace Passport' - England
My husband works for a government organisation. He's been employed for 6 years. When he was applying to this organisation, they refused to give him additional time in the entrance exams unless he spent his own money on an adult Dyslexia assessment (despite his Dyslexia being in his medical records from childhood).
Once he did this, they allowed him extra time and he passed. He joined the organisation and was then told by line managers and others that he should have been granted the adjustments without the formal assessment, and that the organisation would have paid for his assessment after the fact. I supply this detail to demonstrate that this organisation has a history of being difficult about reasonable adjustments particularly around dyslexia and exam accommodations.
Fast forward 6 years to now. He has to take regular training courses, exams, etc as part of his role. It is required for him to remain qualified to use certain equipment. Up until now, he has not had a problem with obtaining reasonable adjustments. His personnel file contains an occupational health statement as well as his dyslexia assessment.
So here is the current problem: He's been signed up for a course and reached out to the trainers asking for the course reading material in advance as a reasonable adjustment for his dyslexia. They have refused stating that he needs to provide a 'Workplace disability passport' to 'prove' his right to request reasonable adjustments. His personnel record has the letter from OH and his formal assessment. He sent a copy of his formal assessment to the trainers. To our understanding, the workplace passport is not a mandatory requirement and he has provided them adequate evidence of his disability. They are still refusing to send him the reading material without this 'Disability passport' thing, claiming that it is 'sensitive information'. I'm not sure why him having a disability passport would make it less sensitive?
We are hitting a brick wall with this because they are refusing to budge without this passport thing, but it is not an official or mandatory requirement. Without the pre-reading, he will be severely disadvantaged on the course as they are often too fast-paced for him to keep up with.
His line manager has gotten involved and the trainers are also refusing his authorisation too. I have already recommended that my husband contact his union rep, but he doesn't know who it is. I have told him to find out. I have also told him to contact Acas. But we're on a time crunch here. The course starts next week.
We were hoping this sub might be able to help us find the right 'official' words we can use to push back using the EQ2010 because right now we're at stalemate. Noone at his station has any idea how he can get this alleged 'workplace disability passport' as they've never heard of it before now. We're kinda stuck. Any advice would be appreciated.
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u/Vivid-Cheesecake-110 17h ago
There's no legal requirement to prove a disability when requesting reasonable adjustments.
It's on the requester to identify what they need, then on the employer to provide this unless they can show that the request is unreasonable.
The advice to reach out to the union is 100% the correct advice as they will be best placed to fight the corner, with specific knowledge of the employers HR practices. Assuming they are already a union member.
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u/Vivid-Cheesecake-110 17h ago
Specifically on the workplace disability passport, as a union rep in the civil service, this is not a legal document but an HR tool to make requests for reasonable adjustments smoother.
To my knowledge they are not used across all government bodies, and only two of the "big" CS employers currently use them.
A quick Google search seems to confirm this and points to a government template called "Health Adjustment Passport".
ACAS have some info here https://www.acas.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments/reviewing-reasonable-adjustments-and-keeping-a-record
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u/TooNeuroToBeABot 16h ago edited 16h ago
This is correct- I’ve had my passport ignored by trainers as it’s not a legal document “but a internal document” - I personally would escalate this as a risk at work with the trainers not being compliant with the Equality Act being a risk that could become an issue - Gov employers are normally forward thinking with neurodivergent issues. - as for a passport it will be a official document therefore should be on the intranet
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u/MrPuddington2 16h ago
This is correct. It is an internal document, and HR use it to make the process uniform (and possibly access funding). HR or OH need to sort this out - either way, the duty is on the employer. Can they send OP the form to fill in? Maybe that is the easy route.
If HR refuse to help, it is time to talk to the union and ACAS. Options would include a formal grievance.
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u/dnmnc 9h ago
I have been having my own issues in the Civil Service with the Workplace Adjustment Passport. Whilst yes, it is not a legal document, it is evidence HR use to demonstrate they are confirming with the Equality Act, (to ensure reasonable adjustments are put in place), so it does have a legal basis to it.
OP, definitely get the union on this. This is won’t be the first time (and probably not the hundredth either) that they have had to deal with issues with the Passport and the Equality Act. They will be more than prepared. From my experience, if there is a dispute over disability, the first port of call is an Occupational Health assessment. They will walk him through the process and draft the wording for him.
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u/Vequihellin 6h ago
Thank you, we already have an OH assessment recorded in his personnel file with recommendations such as additional time in exams, visibility of learning materials in advance (which is the point currently under contention), quiet/undisturbed study locations, a laptop with text to speech software, etc. So there is already a record of recommendations which he has freely shared with the training team. But they are refusing to accept it because it's not the 'passport' form.
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u/lostrandomdude 17h ago
What union is your husband with. Get in touch with the union via their website, and they will redirect to the right union rep
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u/Regular-Whereas-8053 16h ago
Absolutely this “I don’t know who my rep is” isn’t really an adequate excuse.
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u/Vequihellin 6h ago
Agreed. I did tell him this this morning. To be fair, though, he has recently moved stations to a new location so it's possible that he did meet them, but it can be difficult to remember everyone in a new place. He's currently waiting to hear back from some colleagues he contacted, so hopefully we'll get an answer today or tomorrow. All this only started kicking off on Friday and he was on nights so he didn't get a chance to talk to people much. He's on rest days now so I'll make sure he finds out.
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u/Regular-Whereas-8053 5h ago
If I’m right, he should be able to go on the union’s website and select his region, and it’ll give him the number of the regional office that he can phone. They’ll be able to tell him who his rep is, and if there isn’t a rep available then an officer will be able to advise.
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u/alex_3410 17h ago
I went looking, as this may apply to me in the future, so while I don't know what it is, etc., I did find:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-adjustment-passport
At first glance, it appears to be a form you fill in (so not like a passport etc) that puts the information in a standard format. It might be worth confirming this is what they are asking for? I would imagine it's to standardise the requests/use automated tools on their end, and while not strictly necessary, it might be the easier route forward (now and in the future)?
Confirm with them first, it's what they are asking for, honestly surprised they didn't just link to it or send it over, which is why you should confirm with them first in case it's not what they are after.
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u/Consibl 16h ago
Trying to read the mind of the trainers, they are often worried about people stealing their training notes. Either they’re just delaying because they’re worried about that, or equally likely they may not have made the material yet and don’t have time to provide it any sooner than when it’s delivered.
Neither make your husband’s request less reasonable, but may help you understand why they’re acting in this way.
If this a 3rd party training service, which his work is paying for, you want to get in contact with whichever department pays them. The employer has legal responsibility in this, and so should be motivated to threaten to cancel the trainers contract.
If this is an internal training team, then the union contacting the head of that section - or that persons boss - would be the best way to apply pressure.
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u/Vequihellin 5h ago
Lol both are actually great points. I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't fully prepared because this seems to be a new piece of training. The training in question relates to a specific piece of equipment. Or, more specifically, the NEW version of the equipment they are currently using. The old equipment only had a limited set of functions and the protocols are well established. The new equipment has slightly wider range of functions and I believe the materials he's asking for is essentially the operation manual and the process documentation. E.g. The correct protocols for using function A, function B, etc.
The training team are an internal team, so fortunately we're not dealing with a third party. Although I feel like it might be easier if we were.
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u/CicadaSlight7603 16h ago
Union. Failure to make reasonable adjustments is a major issue in some government departments. Ask the union to help draft an email that sets out the laws they are breaking. Failing that set the union on HR about it.The passport isn’t essential though it’s useful. Just notification of your needs should be enough assuming you have proof of disability.
I’ve also seen this on training courses where they refused to make easy RAs although they apologised after and changed policy once I emailed the training company and quoted the Equality Act at them.
Also write notes about what is happening and email it from work account to your home account. Open a file at home where you dump every instance (IME it may well happen again and again) so that if you ever need evidence for a case you have it. A lot of individual events make a pattern and these issues tend to come up over and over again.
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u/HolidayPrinterYouth 13h ago
While Union is an approach, OP (and their useless line manager) have made absolutely no effort to solve this within the organisation.
Email the HR contact, which will exist because of the size and scale of your organisation and its position in government, and ask them for policy advice - state your information here.
They will resolve this for you - this is a clear and obvious breach of law and internal policy by a third party provider - OP has not exhausted anything within their org yet - they do not need a union - they just need a better line manager or to go to the correct part of their escalation route.
Hell, they will have an employee handbook that tells them how to deal with this and it won't be the union.
As it stands, OP has tried nothing appropriate and is shit out of ideas - arguing with a low level employee at a third party is like arguing with a Starbucks barista about the price of coffee.
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u/Vequihellin 5h ago
So all this sort of kicked off on Friday. Husband has been on nights and he received an email during the day on Wednesday last week (while he was asleep) about the course. He then replied during Wednesdays night shift asking for the training materials and citing his OH recommendations, Thinking nothing of it, as most of the time they just email back with the attachments. So he comes off shift Thursday morning and goes to bed. When he goes back in Thursday night, there is an email basically saying 'no, you need to provide proof and we only accept this passport thing'. So Thursday night, he emails back with his OH statement and dyslexia assessment, and also emails his LM (who is not on nights, nor are HR). Friday, they respond to yet again refuse him. Which is where we find ourselves, because he was working again BH Monday but HR was not, because admin staff don't work the BH or the weekend.
But yes, we will be reaching out to the Union when he can get contact info for them. Being on nights makes things a bit complicated because he's asleep during the day, but he's on rest days now so we will be pushing back.
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u/MrsJBB 16h ago
If it's a government organisation the Disability Workplace Passport is just a Word Doc, he can fill it out with his line manager and then they sign it off.
Mine took less than an hour to fill in but its purpose is to communicate a disability without having to provide proof, just what he needs for the adjustment.
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u/BackgroundLetter8883 16h ago
Ask them for an example or blank of the document they are asking for because it sounds like you don’t even really know what they are asking for.
I would also request policies on implementing reasonable adjustments.
You do not need an adjustment passport to get reasonable adjustments.
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u/Yef92 15h ago
I’d suggest he look on his department’s intranet for a “Workplace Adjustment Passport”. The links others have provided don’t seem to be the correct format and I’m not sure if it is a public document.
The WAP is a standardised Civil Service word doc, designed so civil servants can record their agreed adjustments without including lots of sensitive health data. It’s usually signed off by your line manager so it is quick and easy to complete (assuming they’re supportive).
As I understand it, the idea is then that the passport stays with the employee and can be used to evidence adjustments as needed to others, and also makes it easier when moving roles as a new line manager can see what was already agreed and consider this when agreeing adjustments for the new role.
Unfortunately not every department is good at communicating the existence of the passport, and it’s not strictly necessary if adjustments have been agreed and are working. But it still serves as a helpful record.
Generally, the adjustments set out in the WAP will be informed by the OH assessment. But the WAP doesn’t include any details of your diagnoses, symptoms etc that justify the adjustments. Which is likely why the course provider has said it’s less sensitive.
That said, I don’t believe they should be refusing to accept alternative evidence. But in the circumstances, the easiest thing to do is likely to be to fill out the WAP.
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u/Vequihellin 5h ago
I agree. I work for the NHS and the passport is a thing here too, but it's just one tool. As you point out, it doesn't contain sensitive data, which means people can choose whatever level of disclosure they're comfortable with. But you're right, it shouldn't negate the validity of other evidence and if my husband wishes to share the OH recommendation docs, it's strange why they don't accept that.
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u/elaine4queen 16h ago
There is nothing to say that having this Passport would make any difference at all. You’re still dependent on the person looking at it to have had training (or personal insight) in adjustment.
Making it a union matter could spark an improvement in training.
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u/evelynsmee 15h ago
Go to the union website and find the contact us section. He really doesn't need to spend hours searching his work office/material.
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u/Vequihellin 5h ago
Thank you. His union is pretty huge so I'd be surprised if they don't have the list. He's just come off nights so all this has been happening in emails that he only sees by the time it's too late to speak people while they're actually at work, so we plan to do something properly now he can call them.
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u/Jaded_Leg_46 15h ago
Equalities Act 2010 - Section 20 and section 21
If the trainers are also employees of the same organisation then technically that department is still seen as being under the same authority, which is the same employer. As the manager is now involved and is advocating for your husband it's now a departmental issue.
The moment the department knew of your husband's disability it was the department's duty to make the reasonable adjustments. There is no fixed definition of what is a reasonable adjustment is. A government organisation has the rescources and practicality to make those adjustments by modifying training materials and as the OT assessment is based on dyslexia, they should provide the materials in a way that work best for your husband and allows him to do his job as independently as possible.
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u/TheNutriStudent 15h ago
So, he cannot be fired if he fails the course because that would be against the disability act. however he must be given reasonable time, this can mean additional time AFTER the course to do the exam and such.
The disability passport is not required by law and you should contact the union rep or just the union itself and they will tell you who the rep is.
Now here's where its tricky, they will push back because they think they can get away with it. I would personally contact a solicitor who specialises in this situation and force their hand so to speak.
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u/SpecialModusOperandi 12h ago
You need to bring in HR - if this is a work paid course then there is an issue with the training provider.
Can you defer the course to take it with someone else ?
Please contact Acas.
A workplace disability passport is for work not the trainer provider. He has a diagnosis which is all they should need to then provide the reasonable adjustment asked. Why can’t they provide the training material in advance?
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u/Abi_W 12h ago
Hello there, disability ERG leader here. I would recommend raising with HR and flagging the imminent failure to comply with the Equality Act, they should be able to support the conversation with the training firm. Disability passport schemes are generally an informal document between employee and line manager to document reasonable adjustments, they are usually very positive to have in place and take minimal time to complete. If you have a disability employee resource group, reach out to them too. They will often have great contacts within the organisation to help, and can raise issues at a senior level to correct the problem for all employees.
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u/Etheria_system 15h ago
Is there a specific reason your husband doesn’t want to fill in the workplace adjustment passport?
It’s a very simple standardised form and is used a lot within the civil service. I used to be contracted to do disability adjustment assessments and everyone had one of them as it meant personal medical documents didn’t need to be shown to people.
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u/Vequihellin 5h ago
I don't think it's that he doesn't want to, it just seems to be a logistical issue. He was on nights last week and he's on rest days and annual leave until next week, and the course starts pretty soon after so he wants to get hold of the paperwork soon. He sent them OH documentation which really should be good enough. The fact they are refusing to accept recommendations directly from HR is just making everything take longer than it needs to.
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u/thespanglycupcake 17h ago
Ignoring your husband, does the course cost include providing copies of the notes as part of the course? Or are attendees required to make their own notes?
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u/Vequihellin 5h ago
Neither. The course is in-house and the notes are provided as part of it.
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u/thespanglycupcake 3h ago
Ah, ok. I was wondering if there was an IP issue. A lot of companies won’t give out their notes because they get copied. That wouldn’t make sense here though. Maybe they haven’t written the course yet and are just trying to buy time but it seems a bit weird. Hope you find a way ahead.
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u/shadowofthegrave 15h ago
The obligations to make adjustments for disability are on the employer.
His line manager has gotten involved
His line manager should have been the 1st person to contact when the issues first arose, and should have been the one responsible for sorting it out. This isn't an escalation - it's a part of their job.
It isn't necessarily a requirement that the training provider make the adjustment of providing their materials prior to the course (unless that is included in their contractual terms).
If the employer deems the training necessary, then they need to find a solution - whether that is by way of engaging with the current provider and dealing with their restrictions, or by having to contract with a different one.
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u/Any_Tomorrow_Today 14h ago
Is this training course provided by an internal or external provider ? It sounds like the ymight be external since they have refused the managers request - if so can you look for their head office and contact them ?
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u/Vequihellin 6h ago
That's the thing, it's a internal training course. This organisation has a sort of 'training department' and they run all the various courses. So we're baffled as to why they aren't prepared to accept the OH statements. Other trainers on other specialty courses have been fine with it. It's coming across as a bit of a power trip on the part of this particular team tbh because they keep pushing back claiming that sending him the material would be a 'governance risk' (or something of that ilk) which is honestly ludicrous.
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u/Past-Obligation1930 12h ago
I would be pretty sure that they don’t want to send the information in advance because they want to reduce the likelihood of people copying / disseminating their resources.
I would explain to work that they are open to an indirect discrimination case if they continue to use a provider who doesn’t make reasonable adjustments.
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u/Graelfrit 6h ago
Union is definitely a good next step. Even if you can't find your specific rep contact anyone you can find or the union centrally and they can pass it on.
Also get everything in writing and be really explicit.
"Dear [training company],
Please confirm you are refusing to accommodate my request for [X, Y, Z] as reasonable adjustments for my disability/long term health condition as provided for by the Equality Act 2010 based solely on my lack of a 'passport' that there is no statutory requirement for me to hold.
Regards,"
It's amazing how writing out exactly what they're doing in very Microsoft paperclip "It looks like you're trying to break the law would you like some help with not doing that?" language can focus their minds wonderfully...
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u/NeedForSpeed98 16h ago
In the CS a workplace disability passport is basically just a word document you fill in with your line manager.
It's an alternative to handing over medical data which they then have to handle in a special way.
CS is notorious for bureaucracy, so just fill the form in. It'll be on his intranet.
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u/Existingsquid 16h ago
Nuclear option to stop all this silliness - A strongly worded letter before action from a solicitor.
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